Martinez admits Everton would be wasting their time by talking to Chelsea about permanent transfer of Lukaku

Saturday 18 January 2014

Roberto Martinez has admitted that Chelsea will not contemplate selling striker Romelu Lukaku at the moment, despite the Toffees manager wanting to take the Belgian to Goodison Park on a permanent basis, report Sky Sports.

Lukaku moved to Everton on loan for the season during the final day of the summer transfer window, and has impressed massively by contributing nine goals to Everton’s cause this season.

Those goals have helped the Merseysiders to fifth place in the league going into the weekend’s fixtures, and with European football now appearing a serious ambition for the club Martinez has spoken of his wish to keep the 20-year-old in the north west.

Manager Martinez is all too aware, however, that any approach for the player would be a waste of everyone’s time at this stage. The former Wigan boss said: “I know Chelsea are not contemplating listening to any offers and Romelu is highly regarded there.

“It's not in the agreement [to discuss a January transfer]. The agreement we have with Chelsea is that we will wait until the end of the season and as parent club they need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not.”

With Lukaku owed a large thanks for Everton’s current position, Martinez knows that the player would be welcomed by the club’s faithful if he were to sign on a permanent basis, and isn’t surprised considering he himself rates the young striker so highly.

He continued: “I rate Romelu as one of the best strikers in European football now. We want to keep Romelu as long as we can, but the reality is he's on loan for the season.

“They need to be the ones that give us the hint if it's possible or not in the future. As you can imagine the situation is we need to wait until the end of the season.”

Martinez is convinced that Lukaku is settling in to life on Merseyside well, but does not want anyone to get too far ahead of themselves when discussing his situation at the club.

“Rom is enjoying his football. He knows he's here until the end of the season and I don't think it would be beneficial to anyone to go into a conversation that's not going to change the agreement we have until May,” he concluded.

Lukaku made his name at Anderlecht in Belgium, scoring 33 goals in 73 games before securing his dream move to Chelsea – who he supported as a child – in 2011.

He spent a spell on loan at West Brom last season, before switching to Everton for the current campaign.

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